AZGhost

if only these could fit our car. Damn left hand drive stearing linkage!

Thanks for the valuable info! What kind of glasspack did you us?

lol those trunk monkey commercials are priceless... forgot all about those Going to a distributorless system, so no more coil, its all coil on a wire now. I was thinking behind the driver seat, because a thief to me checks glove box, and center console if he cant see anything. Ill have to check out some of Tony's ideas. Thanks!

So as my build is getting closer to complete, I am really starting to think about tricks to keep a potential thief from driving off with it. Has anyone put any kind of kill switch on the starter or fuel pump? Any advantages or disadvantages of one over the other? Any other ideas? Not looking for an alarm system. Just something more simple but yet would deter someone after about 2-5 minutes of trying to figure out how to start the car before they just give up. I was thinking of putting in a kill switch behind the driver seat that would run between the key and the switch to the fuel pump. Im figuring if the kill switch is in front of you somewhere, it most likely will be found, but behind the seat, maybe not so much. Father in law thinks perhaps a button you have to hold in while turning the key to make the starter work. Maybe both? Both are rather simple installs to do. Suggestions welcomed

So I called up MSA on Monday. Someone was supposed to tell me the washers were separate when I ordered it they said (was a phone order)... So I have 6 step down washers coming to me whenever they get back in stock... Another week or so waiting, not a big deal, I got way too much going on right now with this build on other parts of the car. Spent a day and a half pulling apart the entire front end on this thing and reassembling it. Now its onto the rear...

Hey Ben, I found that as well last week, it looks like good info. Ill keep the fusable links on for now. I got a lot of other stuff to worry about and that mod seems simple enough where I can do it later on down the road...

so its ok that the washer is going to cockeyed?

So we got the header mocked up on the engine from thezstore.com, and we have the cannon in take on the head as well. You can see the header is slightly thicker than the intake. There is about an 1/8th of an inch difference. The stud kit we got with it as well, came with no washers weirdly enough. We think washers need to be used in order to torque down the manifolds together. No? (Thats what it looks like on my old engine anyways) We can build a step down washer if needed, but we think it should just all bolt together... I sent an email over to the zstore to see whats up. What do you guys think? Is this normal there should be some fitment adjustment? Dont get me wrong, these headers are beautiful, and nice and thick. Definately some quality here, but on the mounting it just has an issue lining up.

Here is a video of the linkage. You can see how close that bolt comes to hitting the carb. We had to bend out the bracket so it wouldnt be so close. We then had to grind off a buldge on the arm to allow it to go full throttle. Otherwise it was preventing the carb from opening up all the way. You can kind of see our grind on that arm at 25 seconds in. anyways, we think we have it where it will work... We also added an additional washer to the throttle as well to kind of space it out a bit. But we were more comfortable with it after we had bent it out a bit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTishPGtpK4

Ah no worries Ben. I purchased a low volume fuel pump thats supposed to be correct at maintaining the 2.5 to 3 psi so no pressure regulator is needed. Im told volume is needed, not pressure with carbs. Ill be going 'dead head' too. The aeromotive stuff is awesome.... I got the aeroquip fittings in black/silver too, which was a major pain to find, but pierce manifolds sells em along with a direct bolt on kit for triple webers. Kinda pricey tho for the kit. So the fusable links needs to be kept? Every picture I have seen of an engine bay with the triple webers, there is no fusable links assembly anywhere I can see. Are you absolutely sure its necessary?? I guess I will find out soon enough Friday when I can work on everything again. Headers came in yesterday, so I had to mock it up. I got side tracked of needing to take pictures of the linkage.... ooo shiny!

So asking around at some Z shops, seems this is easier than I thought. Pull cable from ECU, pull ECU out, and then cable harness from ECU comes out. Whatever is attached to the cable harness can go. Piece of cake....

Hmm... pull up... interesting didnt think of that... im not sure it would work thinking about it now as the idle screw wouldnt work with it being setup that way. I can email the guy I purchased them from and ask him if they are supposed to push down or pull up... Im thinking it pushes down tho...

So Im about ready to drop this new setup into the car this coming turkey weekend... But I have a few other questions. Looking at other peoples engine bay pix, there is no "fusable link" area. Before I start cutting the harness (cringe), is the fusable links no longer necessary? I plan on hacking off the coil side cables since its an XDI system, as well as EFI cable off the main cable as well. I did some searching, but really couldnt find anything related to what's no longer needed on the existing efi harness that can be cut off when going back to a carb setup. Also the water temperature housing block has a bunch of sensors on it that I dont think are needed anymore as well that dont need to be hooked back up? Anyone have some references or have gone through this process to know? Thanks in advance!

Hmm I dont think so but I'll look at them again later this week when Im back at the shop. If I flip them around, I wont be able to adjust the idle. I also think the geometry would be wrong by it wanting to push in the wrong direction? There is a bump stop that rests right under the idle screw. Kind of difficult to see in this picture, but if you look closely you will see it.. I also think the instructions showed this installed in this position as well, but Ill definately be inspecting it more next week when everything gets bolted on and we get to start the beast up!

so we did some modifications and made it work. We added a washer on the throttle to space it out, and then we bent the arm just a bit. We then found out that there is a "buldge" on the linkage near the arm on the throttle that prevents you from going wide open on the throttle. The throttle arm ends up binding against the linkage. We ground the buldge off to make it flat like its supposed to be, and then it worked. Whats weird is that it starts off flat on the linkage, and then the buldge so now the inside is completely flat. We had to hone down the main rod as well to get it through the eyelets on the manifold. Put it all together, and it works. Kinda crazy for a bolt on kit... This was easier than having to deal with a return and looks like it will work just fine now...

So i bought a cannon intake system to go along with my weber 45's. For some reason the linkage doesnt seem to work right. I found another guy on speedhunters who is using the exact same setup, but his linkage is different than mine. Am I installing the arms wrong? I would think Im doing something wrong if I have to modify the kit. The only thing I can think of to correct this is to add some washers so it wont hit that mounting hole in the carb. Pictures attached. The second picture has same setup as me, cannon intake, and 45mm webers, but his linkage is very different than what my cannon intake came with. First picture is the problem Im having. Thanks

yes, flat top pistons with a shaved head. Decided to go another route with an electromotive kit for the ignition. The XDI setup, along with triple 45's properly jetted all from top end performance. Steve is a great guy!

Does it make a popping sound? It could be your airflow meter, with the flap inside not opening, until there is enough pressure to push that flap down and you typically hear a pop sound (flap hitting the bottom of the air meter). Since you made changes to the air flow meter, is everything hooked back up properly to the unit? Nothing loose?

I recently bought the Champion 3 row off ebay and its constructed extremely well, and seems very durable. I haven't got it mounted yet in my build but just out of the box it looks very highend. I just did a hold and fit on it the other day, and it looks like it should mount right up without any issues or modifications. Its also made in the USA

Well thats a relief... Because this guy had a whole long list of things to setup for the distributor to make it work right. http://datsunzgarage.com/weber/

Ive decided to get rid of the EFI system for my 76 for the triple weber carb setup. I have purchased a rebuilt high compression motor (p90 w/ F54 block 10:1). However, when it comes to the conversion process I have some questions. In regards to the distributor, it seems like you have to do some special work to this to make it work with the carb setup? Does anyone have experience with this, and can point me to more details as to what exactly needs to be done? To clarify, its an electronic distributor now since the FI system, but with the carb setup, its not going to be. So what do people do in this process? Keep the same distributor but modify it, or do you just go to another distributor all together? I know it seems like a simple question, but I have found way too many answers on this to get a solid answer. I appreciate any help. Thank you!

Ok let me clarify after the comments below. I have chosen to go with the L28ET engine as long as it can meet my needs for a swap. I have access to a L28ET engine with the F42 block an P90 head that has been remanufactured here locally for $2500 (all stock except a hot cam) I am looking to get somewhere between 250-300hp on this 76 280z (more towards the 300 side) From what I have read about and searched online, the ECU in this car is insufficient when going over 200hp. I can upgrade the fuel system no problem. But the only thing I have found so far in regards to the ECU is megasquirt. Im not too keen on that, it looks hodge podge. Is there other options available? Whats realistic getting power out of this engine? Thanks!